ses bring them back."

"Couple of men!" ejaculated Mr. Cadwaller breathlessly. "A couple of
hundred, you mean, General!"

"What for?"

"Why, to sur--raound them--there--Indians." The regulations of the court
room considerably hampered Mr. Cadwaller's fluency of speech.

"It is not necessary at all, Mr. Cadwaller. Besides, we have only some
eighty men all told at this post. Our whole force in the territories is
less than five hundred men."

"Five hundred men! You mean for this State, General--Alberta?"

"No, Sir. For all Western Canada. All west of Manitoba."

"How much territory do you cover?" enquired the astonished Mr.
Cadwaller.

"We regularly patrol some three hundred thousand square miles, besides
taking an occasional expedition into the far north."

"And how many Indians?"

"About the same number as you have, I imagine, in Montana and Dakota. In
Alberta, about nine thousand."

"And less than five hundred police! Say, General, I take off my hat.
Ten thousand Indians! By the holy poker! And five hundred police! How in
Cain do you keep down the devils?"

"We don't try to keep them down. We try to take care of them."

"Guess you've hit it," said Mr. Raimes, dexterously squirting out of the
door.

"Jeerupiter! Say, General, some day they'll massacree yuh sure!" said
Mr. Cadwaller, a note of anxiety in his voice.

"Oh, no, they are a very good lot on the whole."

"Good! We've got a lot of good Indians too, but they're all under
graound. Five hundred men! Jeerupiter! Say, Sligh, how many soldiers
does Uncle Sam have on this job?"

"Well, I can't say altogether, but in Montana and Dakota I happen to
know we have about four thousand regulars."

"Say, figger that out, will yuh?" continued Mr. Cadwaller. "Allowed
four times the territory, about the same number of Indians and about
one-eighth the number of police. Say, General, I take off my hat again.
Put it there! You Canucks have got the trick sure!"

"Easier to care for 'em than kill 'em, I guess," said Mr. Raimes
casually.

"But, say, General," continued Mr. Cadwaller, "you ain't goin' to send
for them hosses with no three men?"

"I'm afraid we cannot spare any more."

"Jeerupiter, General!" exclaimed Mr. Cadwaller. "I'll wait outside the
reserve till this picnic's over. Say, General, let's have twenty-five
men at least."

"What do you say, Inspector Dickson? Will two men be sufficient?"

"We'll try, Sir," replied the Inspector.

"How so